Sage Sri
Sankara says: - Yoga
is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 - Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad.
In Sutra Bashya and
Mandukya: - The Samadhi
and sleep are identical.
Brihad Upanishad: does not advocate Samadhi.
Brihad Upanishad: does not advocate Samadhi.
Sage Sri Sankara in
commentary to "Brahma Sutras:- " "The highest beatitude is
not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1.) And he also says
Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312) ---this
indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization. And yogic
Samadhi is not non dual self-awarenesss.
Panchadesi: - the impossibility of yoga arrives at a successful end to its
practices.
(P.509 v, 109)
Deeper self search revels the fact that, yogic Samadhi
is, not the means for liberation because yogic Samadhi is a individual experience based on the false self within the false experience. Wisdom dawns only when the individual realizes, the self is not an individual because self is formless. Thus The yogi who thinks himself as a person and claims that, he experienced the self in Samadhi is unaware of the fact that, thoughtlessness is not wisdom. Everyone experiences thoughtlessness in deep sleep. Deep sleep is not wisdom.
Though there is the natural eradication of difference in deep sleep and in Samadhi, because false knowledge has not been removed, differences occur once again upon waking just like before.
The duality, such as the fundamental distinction between subject and object, is obliterated in deep sleep and in Samadhi, as well as in other conditions such as fainting, but duality is only temporarily obliterated for it reappears when one awakes from sleep or regains consciousness after fainting, and it also reappears when the yoga arises from Samadhi. The reason why duality persists is because false knowledge has not been removed. Therefore the attainment of Samadhi to be a sufficient cause to eradicate false knowledge, since false knowledge is the cause of bondage, Samadhi cannot therefore be the cause of liberation from experiencing the duality as reality.
Though there is the natural eradication of difference in deep sleep and in Samadhi, because false knowledge has not been removed, differences occur once again upon waking just like before.
The duality, such as the fundamental distinction between subject and object, is obliterated in deep sleep and in Samadhi, as well as in other conditions such as fainting, but duality is only temporarily obliterated for it reappears when one awakes from sleep or regains consciousness after fainting, and it also reappears when the yoga arises from Samadhi. The reason why duality persists is because false knowledge has not been removed. Therefore the attainment of Samadhi to be a sufficient cause to eradicate false knowledge, since false knowledge is the cause of bondage, Samadhi cannot therefore be the cause of liberation from experiencing the duality as reality.
Liberation is not
something that can be brought into being. For liberation is just the
destruction of bondage, it is not the result of an action. And we have already
said that bondage is ignorance and it is not possible that ignorance can be
destroyed by action. And action has its capacity in some visible sphere. Action
has its capacity in the sphere of production, attainment, modification and rectification.
Action is able to produce, to make one attain, to modify or to rectify. The
capacity of an action has no other scope than this, for in the world it is not
known to have any other capacity. And liberation is not one of these. Truth is
hidden merely by ignorance.
The perspective of non-dual
wisdom is fundamentally different from that of the yogic tradition where, although
the self is presented as
not something to be acquired, liberation is nonetheless a real goal to be
attained through a process of mental discipline, which necessitates the
complete suppression of all mental activity.
As the line made by a moving
fire-brand appears to be straight, crooked, etc., so Consciousness the innermost self, when
set in motion, appears as the perceiver, the perceived and the like.
As the fire-brand, when not in
motion, is free from all appearances and remains changeless, so Atman or consciousness or spirit,
when not in motion, is free from all appearances and remains Changeless.
When the fire—brand is set in
motion, the appearances that are seen in it do not come from elsewhere. When it
is still, the appearances do not leave the motionless fire—brand and go
elsewhere, nor do they enter into the fire-brand itself.
The appearances do not emerge from
the fire-brand, because their nature is not that of a substance. This applies
likewise to Consciousness, because of the similarity of the appearances.
When Consciousness is associated
with the idea of activity, as in the waking or dream, the appearances that seem
to arise do not come from anywhere else. When Consciousness is none-active, as
in deep sleep, the appearances do not leave the non-active Consciousness and go
elsewhere, nor do they merge in it. The appearances do not emerge from Consciousness,
for their nature is not that of a substance. They are incomprehensible, because
they are not subject to the relation of cause and effect.
A substance may be the cause of
another substance and a non- substance, the cause of another non-substance. But
the individual cannot possibly be anything like a substance or a non-substance.
The three states are not caused by
the mind, nor is the mind caused by them because they are mind itself. The mind is myth on the standpoint of the Consciousness
as self. Hence one has to hold to the principle of absolute non-creation.